The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1584.2021.1
Snow Saw
24/01/2021
Hermione Cooper
24/01/2021
Wooden handled snow saw with canvas cover
Metal, wood, canvas
Handle 13x15 cms. Saw. 48 x 7.5 cms
1
On canvas cover “GLENMORE LODGE. GL 2”
Silver, brown, cream
The Inuit people of Northern Canada and Greenland are probably the first people who come to mind when we think of snow saws and igloos; not students on a winter course at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland’s national outdoor centre.
The Inuit made their saws/ knives out of whale and caribou bone with notches cut out for teeth.
We are told these metal ones were made in Norway, used by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and, as we can see by the cover, Glenmore Lodge in the 1960/70’s.
Students would use them to make igloos and snowholes as part of their survival training in case of emergency.
Not sure why, but Glenmore Lodge stopped using this type of saw in the 1980’s and we managed to salvage this one.
24/01/2021
24/01/2021
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
24/01/2021